A bible of the undergraduate paper-writing process entered the digital age today, with the Modern Language Association’s release of the newest edition of its venerable MLA Handbook.
The seventh edition includes new guidelines for students doing research and writing in an increasingly Web-centric environment. But the new feature that the MLA is most excited about is a Web site bundled with the book.
In addition to providing the full text of the print volume in a format that its target audience — undergraduates and high-school students — may find more convenient, the Web site includes “research narratives,” said Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the MLA. The narratives detail, step by step, how students should approach research and writing for hypothetical papers.
“We learned that students wanted to see much more concretely how to put a research paper together,” Ms. Feal said. “Ideally they wanted someone to work with them on their paper — this is the closest we could get.”
For example, one of the three narratives currently available details how a student researched and wrote a 13-page paper on Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for a hypothetical upper-level course in English literature. The narrative, which consists of 32 steps the student took to write the paper, includes a description of the student’s first meeting with her professor, details on how she formulated her thesis, and a step-by-step explanation of how she cited a letter written by Austen to her sister.
Two changes in the new edition’s citation rules have already drawn some fire in the blogosphere, Ms. Feal said. Rather than assuming that all citations refer to print sources unless otherwise indicated, the new edition recommends that all citations specify from what medium the source comes. Another change recommends that citations of Web sites omit the URL, as they often change and can be too long to fit comfortably in a list of citations, Ms. Feal said.
Ms. Feal said access to the site will be limited to people who buy the book or pay for an online account. Site licenses are not yet available but may be explored, she said.
No plans have been made to build a Web site for the MLA Style Manual, which is geared toward graduate students and professors, Ms. Feal said. —David Shieh
